GasTrakenhancing efficiencies of contracts by improving our outputs & service

We always plan to enhance the efficiencies of contracts by improving our outputs and the service we provide to our clients. This philosophy has been applied to a long-term contract that we currently hold with Cadent Gas. We carry out several types of survey for Cadent Gas, including routine planned and emergency surveys.

In the past, when a Trigger or Emergency gas leakage survey was required, we would need to prepare workloads and plans and issue these to site along with Work Instructions, Risk Assessments and Method Statements in a paper format. This involved a lot of travel, printing and stress, sometimes late into the evening or on a weekend…basically an in-efficient approach to the delivery of the project.

This prompted us to identify a more time and cost-effective methodology that would reduce the mobilisation time and reduce the costs. To do this we worked with a local software development company to develop our iPad based “GasTrak” application. Using this we can ensure that workloads are issued both electronically (saving the requirement to print plans) and instantly (enabling emergency surveys to be carried out straight away). This removes the requirement for a surveyor to travel from site to collect workloads and then travel back to site to carry out the surveys.

We can instantly upload emergency projects and surveys allowing us to react in a fraction of the time and deliver the service with a quicker turnaround time. The surveyor in turn does not need to travel back to offices to update reports, the simple transferal of leakage survey data is instantaneous.

Mobile MappingOur overriding thought and consideration when we commence each project is to firstly ensure we carry out each project as safely as possible.

This includes traffic management considerations; is it safer during the daytime or night-time and how many personnel do we need to ensure activities are carried out safely (such as manhole lifting and guarding). With this taken into consideration, we then review the project requirements and specification and determine the most efficient way of achieving these.

All factors would be considered, such as which equipment is most suited to collect the data in the most efficient manner, which could be Total Stations, Laser Scanners, UAVs or Mobile Mapping.

Also, what is the optimum number of personnel we need to deploy to make the best use of the allocated traffic management?

For each project, we produce a detailed plan of works outlining each specific area of survey, the amount of time allocated to it, the number of personnel required and what specific requirements we need, such as equipment and traffic management requirements. This is provided to the client with our quotation, giving complete transparency of our program planning. We are always looking to utilise the most efficient methodology or innovative technology available, but we also balance this with the need to provide our clients with the lowest cost and shortest time frame that we can offer, whilst ensuring the safety of our staff and the public. One of our key clients is Transport for London and we know from working for them over a long period that cost reduction is a continual focus for them and therefore we must maintain our focus on efficiencies.

To further demonstrate this, a recent survey we carried out for Transport for London had been quoted by ourselves previously but the scheme had been put on hold due to a lack of budget availability. 12 months later the scheme was reintroduced and 40Seven were asked if we could complete the works for our original quotation. As it turned out the scope of the work had also changed and a topographical survey was now required along with the underground utility survey that we had tendered for. Because our land survey department map all our underground utility surveys with total stations and we had purchased a new MIRA (Multi Array) GPR unit which collected the GPR data much quicker, we were able to complete the entire survey for the same cost.

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